Palate
Refreshing and richly textured, this expressive Semillon shows vibrant kiwi, honeysuckle, and melon notes set against a spicy, citrus peel character. On the palate, it is supple and flavorful, replete with flavors of quince, fig, and stone fruit, persisting to a balanced, succulent finish.
Growing Conditions
An easy, mild growing season combined with low yields and a prolonged harvest resulted in wines with wonderful balance, color, and vibrant fruit. A normal but quick mid-April bud break was followed by warm spring weather. Freeze events in late 2019 lowered bud fertility, combined with rain and wind during June
bloom, which resulted in unusually low yields. Heat accumulation tracked the long-term average with veraison on-time in early August. Harvest had just started when smoke from CA/OR wildfires first blew west into the Pacific Ocean then swept eastward into the Columbia River basin and was present from the second week of September for eight days. The stage of fruit maturity, exposure timing, and the nature of this (older) smoke resulted in a minor, negligible impact. However, diffused sunlight and cooler temperatures stalled fruit maturation, extending harvest timing into October. The long growing season combined with low yields resulted in wonderful balance, length, and aromatics in the white wines.
Harvest
The grapes were harvested in the early morning hours, promptly delivered to the winery for whole-cluster pressing, with measures were taking to retain fruit aromatics.
Winemaking
Before bottling, the wine underwent gentle fining and filtering.
Aging
Juice was settled overnight and racked to mostly neutral French oak barrels for a cool fermentation; subsequent malolactic fermentation and period lees stirring contributed weight and complexity to the wine.
